


When Everyone Else Is Asleep

by renjeonpajeon



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst with a Happy Ending, Car Accidents, Illnesses, Implied Mpreg, Kid!Shotaro, M/M, Medical Procedures, Minor Character Death, Post Mpreg, Will add more members in the next chapters, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:33:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28852857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renjeonpajeon/pseuds/renjeonpajeon
Summary: Sicheng has been single all his life. Sure, he has no issues raising a toddler and running the ER single-handedly.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Everyone, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Qian Kun
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Eric Nam's Runaway (the Korean version). Both the Korean and English versions will set the mood of the fic.
> 
> The people, cases and organizations in this fanfic do not depict real people and real situations. I just love watching medical dramas and borrowed the names of NCT members (and some of their inside jokes).
> 
> I would like to thank my friend @namdoli (Check her IG y'all!) for believing in me. TT
> 
> English is not my first language.

“Neo Medical Center ER. How may I help you?”

_“Hello. This is 119. We have a 37, male, motorcycle rider involved in VA at Highway 127 around 20 minutes ago. He collided with a cement mixer truck and his leg got stuck underneath the wheels of the truck.”_

The nurse-on-duty looked outside through the glass doors at the entrance. The horrid rains has been pouring throughout the night and probably won’t stop even at the end of his shift. He sighed. It was his 3rd night duty in a row with an extreme trauma case. “How many minutes until you arrive here?”

_“Probably around 10 to 20 minutes.”_

“Alright. I will inform our resident-on-duty. Thank you.” As soon as the nurse ended the phone call, the ER resident-on-duty stood by the nurse’ station.

“Nurse Yangyang, what did they say,” the resident inquired while rubbing some alcohol on his hands.

“I think there’s no surprise for you to have another VA patient, Dr. Dong.”

Dr. Dong scoffed, “That’s what I get for eating noodles for lunch. How bad was the VA and how many minutes until they arrive?”

“Eyy, all of the residents eat noodles. May it be ramyeon in the pantry or kalguksu in the canteen. But, you’re the only one who always have toxic cases. And you don’t even eat that much noodles!” Yangyang said accusingly while the resident just laughed it out. “Anyway, they’ll probably arrive in less than 20 minutes. But it’s pouring out there so we cannot really be sure.”

Dr. Dong— _Dong Sicheng or Winwin to some of his colleagues—_ nodded, “Let’s just hope it’s not yet zero visibility. Please prepare the code cart just in case.” He then strutted his way to the pantry where the intern who was dozing off at the corner . He sighed as he thought why does the training office always give him one intern unlike the other departments. It’s burdensome enough that he’s the only resident in the department since his first year. He sometimes had fellows with him during night duties but most of the time they are away to attend conferences and lectures. He just needed to suck it up in days when he would be at the hospital for 72 hours straight.

Sicheng cleared his throat, “Intern.”

The intern scrambled off the chair and stood up straight, eyes wide open while trying so hard to contain a yawn. “Yes, Dr. Dong?”

“We have a VA arriving,” Sicheng looked on his wrist watch. “Probably in 15 minutes. Please prepare a double line. I’ll be just in the hallway and inform the Surgery ROD.”

With that, Sicheng stepped out the pantry and straight to the hallway to make a call. His intern watched his back steadily disappearing from his sight.

He then tilted his head, “Double line?”

* * *

Sicheng had his coat covering his face as he slept on the leather couch of the call room. He was so exhausted until the last second of his duty before he was relieved by his fellow. And he’s on night duty again for 3rd straight time later. At least this time, he had at most 12 hours to rest before his duty starts again. Even if he wants to go home and sleep there, it would be so much hassle and he might not wake up for his next duty.

Remembering what happened few hours ago, his intern fucked up by putting 2 IV line tubes in one—just one—1L normal saline solution. Luckily form him, Yangyang was able to note the clownery done by his intern just a minute before the patient arrived and prepared the double line instead. It took him 10 seconds to calm himself when he saw Nurse Liu doing what he asked of the intern. Just as he thought that his lanky, 6-feet intern could not get any worse on his first duty, he almost barfed when he saw the condition of the patient but there was no time for it because the patient was already hypotensive and was still losing blood because of his injuries. It also turned out that his intern was still incapable of inserting an IV line to a real patient, leaving him no choice but to insert both lines himself and to collect blood for laboratories while he was at it. Well, that’s what they get for the system insisting that medical students must practice only on dummies.

He was about to go to dreamland when the door flew open. _Welp, there goes his sleep._

“Hey, Winwin-ge!” Wong Yukhei or _Lucas_ as he preferred jokingly body-slammed the poor 3rd year ER resident, who swatted away the younger in return.

“What?” Sicheng yawned while begrudgingly sat up, still with his eyes closed.

“Chief Jae is pissed at you,” Lucas warned. “He said that you always refer trauma cases at dawn. He still has to make rounds and be at the OPD with the professors. Speaking of professors, I think the new fellow is going to be there later. I think his last name is Na when I heard the professors talk to him via phone.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh!” Lucas slammed his right fist to his left palm as he remembered, “He had his residency at SNU Medical Center.”

“SNU, huh.” Sicheng hugged the pillow where his head was previously lying on. “Anything else?”

“None,” the second-year Surgery resident popped out a wide grin.

“Then get lost.” Sicheng threw then mentioned pillow to Lucas’ face before lying down on the couch again. “I still need to help Kunhang later with his part-time.”

Lucas caught the pillow thrown to him and settled it down to the chair on the opposite side of the room. “Aww. You’re being a tough cookie but we all know that you’re just soft as a marshmallow.” He then switched off the lights as he observes Sicheng shuffle on the couch to find a comfortable position. He laughed hysterically as he goes out of the room and navigates his way back the second floor.

* * *

“I heard you had a tough duty last night.” The newly hired fellow put down a mug of freshly French-pressed coffee in front of the sleep-deprived GS chief resident and then pulled out a chair across the conference table while enjoying his own mug of coffee. “Bilateral BKA, right?”

“Thanks, Hyung.” Jung Jaehyun, the chief resident of the Department of General Surgery, inhaled the aroma of his coffee. “Yes, both legs are mangled from VA. I tried to save one leg but the right tibia pierced through the nerve while the other leg was just dangling off by the skin.”

The fellow whistled. “So, you’ve become toxic now in your residency.” He let out a boisterous laugh before sipping down his coffee.

“It’s not me, Yuta-hyung” Jaehyun whined as the hepatobilliary tree fellow laughed it off. “Remember my shy anti-social friend Sicheng, the co-intern the I’m always paired when we’re on duty in your residency? The post-op patients in the ward suddenly become toxic upon him stepping inside the elevator on his way up to the ward. Either that or we would have simultaneous codes right before we end out duty.”

Jaehyun’s laughter filled the room as he continued to remember his memories with Sicheng. “He’s the one duty last night at the ER. Hence, it was his fault because I had benign duties last week whenever his fellow was the one duty instead of him. And he goes by with Winwin nowadays. It started with a younger resident but the nickname’s just got stuck, you know?”

“Yes, I remember him.” Yuta had a fond smile on his face and then emptied out his mug. _Winwin, huh? What happened to you, Sichengie?_

* * *

_“So, both of you are our interns for two months?”_

_“Yes, Sir,” The taller of the two answered as the two young interns bowed to the residents inside the department office. “I am Jung Jaehyun and he is Dong Sicheng. Both of us just graduated from SNU.”_

_“Really?” The chief resident looked at them briefly and continued to check the charts. “Tell us something about yourselves.”_

_Sicheng nudged Jaehyun’s elbow which did not go unnoticed by their 2 nd year resident with cat-like features. Before Jaehyun could answer, he said, “Let’s hear it from Sichengie—I’ll call you that, okay? You’re so cute, you know?”_

_With that, the smaller intern choked on his spit which garnered laughter from the other residents. The flirty resident, unbothered, deepened his eye contact with the poor intern who was busy avoiding the older._

_“Hey, Nakamoto,” the other residents butt in. “Spare this intern. He looks like a chick that is about to be eaten by a lion—which is you!”_

_“Yeah! How did you even managed to convinced the training office to let you keep your silver hair? It looks like a mane, to be honest.”_

“That’s my secret,” Yuta then winked at Sicheng.

* * *

“Yah, Jung Sungchan!” A raven-haired boy slammed down a piping hot bowl of instant ramyeon on the stable, spilling some of the soup. “Stop sulking already. It’s not your fault that you don’t know what double line means. You’re an intern. Actually, the three of us are just interns. Nobody expects us to be that good already. Just look at Jisung and his poop-hands!”

“HEY! Well, actually...” The other intern named Jisung butted in while chewing his noodles. “I know what double line means, Chenle.”

“What?!” Chenle shrieked while Sungchan slumped his shoulders even more and played with his food. “When?! Where?! Who?! Why?! How?!”

“You know, Dr. Hendery?” Jisung slurped down. “The weird Pedia resident? I watched his vlog on Youtube about ‘How to Survive Internship 101’. That’s why I know what double line means.”

“Oh, I heard about that!” Chenle exclaimed.

“And how about putting an IV line into a real person?” Sungchan asked.

“Well...It’s not in the video.”

“Maybe we should just ask him to teach us,” Chenle suggested. “He seems nice. But although he looks pretty normal, he really acts weird most of the time. Or maybe, let’s just leave a comment on his last video.”

“The one where he dressed up as Rapunzel for Halloween and had it on during his duty at the ward,” Jisung described.

“Is this the one?” Sungchan pushed his phone towards Jisung and let him see the thumbnail of the said vlog.

“Let’s play it. It sound fun,” Chenle said as he pressed the video.

“ _I cAn ShOw YoU tHe WoRLd!”_

* * *

“Welcome to...” the person on the left of the screen, with his signature unicorn enamel pin on his white coat, drum rolled on the wooden table. “...HENformation! I am your local pediatrician, Dr. Hendery. I am here again to answer the questions you left in the comments from my previous video. Before anything else, please like this video and leave a comment, subscribe in my channel and click on the bell button so you won’t miss out any videos and new pictures in our community tab. So, let’s get started!”

Hendery clapped the slate in from of the camera, signalling a new portion of the video. “Faster, Ge!” He waves at Sicheng to move in front of the camera. As Sicheng was on the view of the shot and settled into his seat, Hendery began talking again.

“So as you guys can see, we have a guest beside me,” he gestured at Sicheng. “Say hello to the viewers especially the international ones.”

“Hello, everyone!” Sicheng smiled widely. “I am Winwin and I am the guest today.”

“So Winwin, I’m not sure if you’re familiar but on this vlog, the viewers will leave their questions on the comment section of the previous video and we will answers the interesting ones.”

“Are they all medical related or—”

“Of course. But, there are some personal questions too.” Hendery said as he wiggled his eyebrows. “So, let’s start! Let me see...” Hendery scrolled up and down, scanning the comment section. “Aha! This one is interesting. _Which do you like better as patients: adult or children?_ Obviously, I like children more because they don’t lie on how they feel so it’s easier for me to know if they’re in pain or not. How about you, Winwin? You handle all kinds of patients at the ER.”

“Me, personally, I am okay with all age groups. But who they are with makes the difference when they come inside the ER. Hahahaha.” Sicheng let out an awkward laugh. “Next!”

“Okay, this is a bit personal. _Hendery, who are your friends in the hospital and what do they do?_ Me, as all of you know, I am a 2nd year pediatric resident. Winwin is an emergency resident. What year are you again?”

“Third.”

“Right, third. We also have Lucas and DJ in our group. Lucas is a 2nd year GS resident while DJ is a 2nd yr Anesthesia resident. Sometimes, Jungwoo-hyung eats with us. He’s my senior resident in Pedia. Winwin and Jungwoo-hyung are both third years but Winwin is old—Ah! Why do you have to smack me?!”

Sicheng glared at Hendery before smiling at the camera, “I took a break before applying for residency.”

“And that’s another story. Okay, let’s continue. Winwin, you read this. I think this question is for you.”

“Okay. Interesting ID, looks very familiar. _Doc, I am an intern. I just got roasted by my resident. How do you put an IV line in a patient?_ ” Winwin pinched the bridge of his nose after reading the question. “Hey, *bleeped name*-ah. I did not roast you, okay? Sorry if you felt like that. I’ll have a return demo with you during our down time next duty, okay?”

“Wow,” Hendery slow clapped at Sicheng. “Such a caring resident. I’ll send the other interns to you also for a the demo.” Before Sicheng could respond, he read the next question. “Moving on to the next comment. _I have a crush on my doctor. Do doctors and nurses ever date? They seem to be busy all time._ Actually, I dOn’T kNoW! Ahahahaha. How about you Winwin, what do you think?”

“I think...I don’t know too!” Sicheng goofed at the camera. “I am busy. Do you have a crush, Hendery?”

“I do,” Hendery looked down at his lap with blush forming on his cheeks.

“Really?! How come I’m just hearing this now?! And you call me your bestfriend?!”

Hendery suddenly looked straight at Sicheng who equally stared at him, waiting to spill the tea.

“Actually, it’s...”

* * *

“Baba!” The three-year old squirmed his way out of his caretaker’s arms and ran towards the foyer of the apartment. “Iyyie-chamchon! BABA!

‘Baba’ removed his shoes and sported a smile towards the kid on the other side of the fence. He put his dress shoes at the shoe cabinet neatly and put on his indoor slippers before opening the fence and swooping up the boy. “Taro-chan! Where is Taeil-samchon?”

“I’m here, Professor!” A distant voice from the kitchen was heard.

The professor then put down Taro and patted the boy’s bottom which led to Taro strutting his way back inside the living area. The older removed his suit jacket and let it hang on his left forearm as he adjust his glasses and then loosened his tie with his dominant hand. He then walked into the kitchen where the caretaker, _Moon Taeil_ , was just about to finish cooking for his boss and the kid.

“Professor Qian,” Taeil shut off the stove. “I thought you would be arriving home tomorrow. I was waiting for Taro’s _papa_.”

“He won’t be home tonight so I bailed out of the conference right after my presentation.”

* * *

If the old Sicheng could see the Winwin that he is now, the other would probably be in awe on how the shy and boyish charms he had before evolved into this charismatic, lean and muscular facade that he has now. A lot of things happened in his one year break before residency. Yes, he lost a lot but he gained more. New people. New experiences. New outlook in life. New and improved _Dong Sicheng. Heck, he even gained abs._

_Did he regret anything? Only time will tell._

Sicheng was alone in the call room and just finished showering when he faced his locker. Unconsciously, he touched with his fingertips a hypertrophic transverse scar just below the waistband of his scrub pants. He was about to put on his top when the door opened, making him turn his head to the door.

“Intern—” Sicheng greeted, expecting the intern who previously messed up to come up and talk to him before their duty.

“Hey, can we—Sorry!”

At the same time, a bewildered Nakamoto suddenly backed out and banged the door close.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends having lunch. Chief residents having a catfight. Jisung meeting weird Pedia residents. And a not-so-shocking revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added and changed some of the tags, as well as the fic summary. I tried to make the whole fic light but angst got in the way.
> 
> Enjoy!

It’s the usual weekend in Taro’s house. He started his day being carried by his Baba to the bathroom. Because he was still little and a clumsy kid, Baba helped him to wash his face and brush his teeth. Honestly, he was excited for this weekend to come because he will see his Mama—his father-slash-mother. Sure, he would be missing his Iyyie-samchon and his Baba but he would have lots of fun with his most favorite person at the mall.

“Shotaro,” Kun placed down the kid’s tray on top of the table and then proceeded to prepare his meal. “We’ll stop by the hospital today and then you can play with your Mama all day long. Shotaro beamed a smile to Kun.

“Yay! Mama!” Kun chuckled on how Shotaro was a messy eater but the toddler always insisted to eat by his own.

“Right,” Kun wiped the boy’s chin, “but you need to eat slowly and chew your food, okay?”

* * *

“So, dude. Let me get it straight. You saw Dr. Dong but you chickened out the moment you saw his back muscles contract” A pair of chopsticks repeatedly pointed to Yuta. “Am I getting this, Taeyong?”

“Yep,” Taeyong wiped the same spot on his coffee table again. “And then what? It’s been a week or two and he’s avoiding Dr. Dong’s hair like a plague. We can’t even eat at the cafeteria because of him. I thought he’s just being generous with all of these take-outs”

Ever since that “call room incident” with Sicheng, as his friends called it when he spilled it while they were eating lunch today, Yuta has been ordering take outs for himself and his friends everyday for a week already, taking turns to which office the would eat at. He would purposely avoid passing by the ER, going to the hospital cafe and eating at the hospital canteen.

Yes, he wanted to check on with Sicheng, the reason why he decided to drop by the call room that afternoon, and talk to him just like the old times but there’s this awkwardness between them, especially from him. He couldn’t blame the time that was lost. He lost contact with him after the graduation party of the SNU interns where Sicheng and Jaehyun belonged to. It seemed that the younger went incognito. He was even blocked on all platforms. As the days, months, and years passed by and he became busier with his residency and application for fellowship. Of course, he couldn’t blame Sicheng if he changed, if the cute intern turned into man overtime. He, too, changed, you know? Gone were the days when he flirts with everyone—everything, even a minion mascot. Commitment was still a foreign thing for him.

“Anyway,” Johnny, who just finished eating and was now drinking his cup of Americano, butted in. “I heard your having a hard time with you chief res, Taeyong.”

“Ugh,” Taeyong threw down the tissue he used to wiped the table, just to pick it up again. “Don’t remind me of that spawn-of-Satan named Kim Doyoung! He kept on doing intubation to patients and he would not even inform me? He would just inform the consultants right away!”

“Well, just remind him to do so.” Yuta stretched his legs on the sofa. He had just assisted a bloody liver transplant which has lasted for at least 12 hours. “Do you even have his number?”

“I don’t have it. I don’t know. And, I don’t care.” Taeyong harrumphed. “Which side are you even?” Yuta just shrugged his shoulders and began massaging his legs. “You’re useless. How about you, Johnny?”

“Not my problem.”

Irritated with his friends, he tore the used tissue into two and threw a piece of each to both of them. The two just laughed which was eventually joined by Taeyong.

“Oh, by the way,” Yuta remembered, “I saw the ER fellow earlier this morning at the lobby.”

“Dr. Qian Kun,” Taeyong supplied. “Right, Dr. Qian. I didn’t know he has a kid.” Johnny sipped a bit of his coffee.

“Ah! That’s Taro. He’s—"

An urgent knock on the door disrupts Johnny. The door opened, revealing a young resident.

“Professor Lee.”

“Yes, Donghyuck?”

“There seems to be an argument at the ER about a patient.” Donghyuck had his eyes shifting from left to right as he explained to the IM fellow.

“And that involves me, because?”

“It’s between Chief Kim...and Chief Jung.”

* * *

“They’ve been arguing for about 15 minutes already.” Yangyang reported to the Chief Nurse at the ER. “No one wants to back down.”

“As expected of the two chiefs. Just let them be.” The other nurse passed a bag of mixed nuts throughout the station. “We’ve already intubated the patient. Our fellow referred her already to both departments. We have ongoing nicardipine drip and her blood pressure seems to be stable. Just focus on charting so we could transfer the patient in the ICU once they settled which department should be the patient be admitted.”

Yangyang just nodded and continued charting. It was the usual issue between the two departments so there was nothing to be surprised with. He just hoped that the patient would be transferred before she gets worse.

“Just look at Ten’s initial read of the cranial CT, Jung” Doyoung pointed out at the screen of the computer. “Linear fracture at the occipital area of the skull with epidural hematoma.”

“Oh, come on, Kim” It was Jaehyun’s turn to point out the scan. “You see this white blob right in the middle?! It’s hemorrhagic stroke!”

“With TBI! She hit the back of her head in the toilet.”

“Because of intracranial hemorrhage!”

“No one saw anything, Jung. She could have slipped or something before the stroke happened.”

“Just admit her in your department, Kim.”

“No, we have no beds available. You have a free bed in the ICU.”

“But you’re supposed to be the main service! She has records in your OPD.”

“TBI or not, you still need to operate her for SAH.”

They continued bickering as the three fellows stood by the nurse station, not noticed by their residents. Johnny took a glance at the initial reading at the screen. “Oh, it’s my chief who read the scan. 40 mL at the fourth ventricle with midline shift. With TBI. Classic.”

“At this rate, if they continue like this, the patient would have herniation.” Taeyong glanced at the two chiefs before turning to Yuta. “Yuta, can I have this one favor? We don’t really have a bed now in the ICU for our department. Can’t we just co-managed the patient with NS so she could be transferred now to the OR? I’ll check with our consultants.”

“Alright. I’ll contact one of the NS consultants. We don’t have an NS fellow at the moment.” Yuta asked the nurses, “Can someone stop them already? Let me just talk with the guardian of the patient then we’ll go up the OR already. Thank you.”

“Right away,” the nurses heeded the plea of the fellow.

“This is why I chose Radiology,” Johnny chuckled while putting his arms around the shoulders of the other fellows. “No drama. No rounds. No OPD. Just having the chill life except for emergency procedures.”

Johnny looked around at the usual scenery of the ER. Nurses speed walking while guardians complain to them. There’s a child wailing behind them, begging to go home instead of waiting for the Pedia resident to come down. There’s a bunch of policeman escorting a man with bloodied shirt and a bandage wrapped around his head.

It’s going to be a very long weekend.

* * *

Taro was eating with his mother at his favourite chicken store, Night Chicken Tales, “Mama,” the boy looked up to his mother, “I saw an ahjussi at the hospital earlier.”

Taro’s mother saw the excitement from the boy’s eyes. “Was that so? Tell me more about that uncle you saw.”

“I told him my name but I don’t know what he said. Baba said it was Japanese.” Taro continued on gnawing his chicken leg. “He told me Shotaro is Japanese. I want to learn Japanese, Mama.”

“I’ll see about that,” his mother replied. “But first, finish your chicken so we could get some ice cream.”

Taro beamed a smile to his mother.

* * *

“Oho! Mwoya, mwoya, uri intern!” A resident greeted at Jisung who was doing morning rounds with Hendery. “We have a new blood!”

Jisung had his jaw dropped by the resident with bubblegum pink hair. He had been warned that Pediatric residents in this hospital were a bit eccentric. Hendery closed the intern’s jaw instead.

“Say hello to him, Jisung,” Hendery said to Jisung to which the younger complied with by giving the other resident a short bow. “This is Dr. Na Jaemin, first year. Both of us are in-charge with the cases in the wards but I handle the newborns most of the time. You’ll see Dr. Kim Jungwoo later. He’s assisting consultants at the OPD right now.” Jisung nodded in acknowledgement.

“Uri Jisungie,” Jaemin asked, “Are you good with arm wrestling?”

Jisung tilted his head in confusion, “I think so?” Jaemin and Hendery made a celebratory dance.

One of the nurses at the station pushed out a medicine and line cart and went to the first room. The two residents followed with Jisung at tow.

The first kid on room 301 was Kim Wonsik, a nine-year old kid with Dengue fever. Fortunately for him, it was only his daily blood work.

“Mother, if the increasing trend in his platelet count continues, we might discharge Wonsik tomorrow,” Jungwoo explained to the mother while the nurse on duty took 3mL of his blood.

The rest of the rounds went by in bliss until they reached the last patient—Kim Seonho, 15 years old, on his thirteenth day of antibiotics for bacterial meningitis. Both of the residents gave Jisung a pat on his shoulders.

“Are you ready, Dr. Park? This one is a tough guy.”

Seonho smiled, with his dimples showing, at the doctors and the nurse.

* * *

“I can’t do this anymore,” an exhausted Jisung banged his head on the cafeteria table. Chenle screeched which sounded like a dolphin.

“Why? What happened?” Sungchan asked. Jisung whined on his seat.

“I had my hair pulled by a patient. He’s 15 but still afraid of needles. I never heard so much curses in my life.” The two other interns laughed at Jisung’s misery.

“At least the kids don’t vomit at you. Just look at this guy,” Chenle teasingly pointed at Sungchan. “What a case to start his day.”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me,” Sungchan complained. “I had to go home by taxi this morning and change clothes. Who even drinks when the sun’s already out? I swear, if anyone of you vomits when drunk, I’m leaving you at the sidewalks.”

Jisung gave a disgusted look to Sungchan and covered his nose. Sungchan saw Jisung and whacked him. “I showered again, okay?” He shook his head. “Oh, by the way, I saw Dr. Dong. I think he’s about to go home? I didn’t know he has a kid.”

“Wow,” Chenle slow-clapped, “ER doctors are really something. Once they’re off duty, they can do their thing and not worry about patients anymore. Yes, they would be called in but at least they don’t do rounds or outpatients. Maybe I should ask Kun-ge if I could still apply for internship at EM.”

“You know Dr. Qian?” Sungchan asked.

“He knows Dr. Qian, Dr. Dong, the Wongs, the Kims, the Lees” Jisung enumerated, “He knows Nurse Liu and the other doctors. He knows everyone in this hospital like he owns it.”

“Well, to be fair,” Chenle had a sip of his iced Americano, “it’s my grandfather who owns it, not me.”

* * *

Sicheng parked the car on the space near the entrance of the apartment block. He opened the trunk and was taking out several shopping bags when his phone rang. It was Hendery’s ringtone.

“Hey, what’s up?"

_“Winwin-ge, I’ll be off later at 6PM. Do you want to grab a bite later? I know this new hotpot restaurant near the train station.”_

“6 is fine. But I need to ask first my son. Wait, let me just get him from the back—“

_“Is everything okay?”_

“He’s not in the car anymore. I think I forgot the child lock. I’ll call you ba—“

Sicheng was interrupted by a loud screeching sound of a car hitting the breaks, followed by a deafening thud. He dropped his phone and began to run at the source of the sound. His heart was racing but everything seemed to slow down around him. He saw the apartment security guard running toward him. He was talking—or shouting—without a sound. It took him forever to reach the crowd forming on the street. Everything then became blank for Sicheng.

* * *

“Well done for today, guys” Yuta took off his surgical gloves and gave his resident instructions. “Jung, make sure to measure the JP drain output hourly then report it to me. Include the color and consistency.”

“Noted, Dr. Nakamoto.”

It was already 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Yuta just finished doing an ERCP with intraoperative cholangiogram for a 36 year old male with HCC. It was a fairly easy operation but he still needed to stay overnight and monitor the patients vitals.

After removing his surgical gown, he went straight to the OR call room to get changed before going back to the General Surgery Department office.

“The fuck are you doing here, Johnny?” Yuta blurted out as soon as he saw the tall man chilling out in their office. “Don’t you have your own department office?” He narrowed his eyes towards the other fellow as he closed the door, “Are you here to steal my residents?” Johnny was busy huddling with Lucas and Renjun, a first year GS resident.

“What are you talking about?” Johnny didn’t even bother to look up. Instead, he continued fiddling with his phone on one hand and another phone—perhaps those of the resident’s—on the other hand. “We’re just having our fanclub meeting.”

Yuta, as the curious cat that he is, snatched the two phones out of Johnny’s hands. “Wait! I’m not done transferring--”

“Isn’t this Kun’s son?” Yuta zoomed in the picture flashed on the screen. “How can be a child be this adorable?” He kept on swiping picture and stopped at one. He again zoomed it it. His eyes shifted to Johnny and then back to the phone.

A familiar static noise was then heard from the PA speaker at the ceiling. There was urgency at the announcement that made the two residents stand up.

_“GS ROD, ER now. Pedia ROD, ER now.”_

Yuta looked at his two residents and signalled them to go. “Go first. I’ll follow.” Lucas and Renjun then sprinted past at him and they went down to the emergency room.

“I don’t actually know everything,” Johnny snatched the phones back, “but if I were to count, it matches, right?” He thoughtfully added, “I had my suspicions long before he started late in his residency. It was not my business to begin with. It’s between the both of you. I think it’s best to talk to him directly.”

Johnny then patted then patted his friend’s shoulder. Feeling his knees weakening, he grabbed the closest rolling chair and slumped on it. He had a lot of questions running on his head now that he didn’t even know where to begin. A ringtone was then heard by the two fellows.

“Not mine,” Johnny said.

Yuta checked his phone and saw a number that had blocked him for years. With shaking fingers, he answered the call.

“Hello?”

There was silence.

“Sichengie?”

“Yuta? Oh God—Taro-chan—he—c-car—ER—Need you. Please.“

* * *

Yuta ran as fast as he could, even catching up and overtaking his residents. Johnny also ran with him to the ER.

As soon as they arrived, the ER was in chaos. Jaemin was inserting another line while Yangyang just pushed epinephrine to the other line. Hendery was on the phone, talking to his consultants. Sungchan was pumping, with Jisung lined up and waiting for their turn. Chenle was in-charge with the ambubag while Kun was preparing for oral intubation. Renjun then started interviewing the emergency response team who brought the patient. Lucas called up the operating room and the anesthesia ROD. The other nurses already called and informed the trauma and pediatric surgery consultants. Johnny was already on contact with Ten to prepare for FAST and cranial CT scan.

The HBP fellow looked around, searching. He stopped another nurse. “Where is Dr. Dong?"

The nurse pointed to the waiting area. He saw an unfamiliar man who was ushered by the admitting staff to fill up some forms. Once the man was out of the way, he saw a dishevelled Sicheng, with a shoe missing. He was about to go to the ER resident when a hand grabbed his elbow.

“I am Dr. Kim Jungwoo, 3rd year Pediatrics,” the resident introduced himself. “I don’t know if you remember me but I was Winwin’s roommate before.” He explained, “I’ll be in charge of Dong Shotaro once formally referred. He had a traffic accident this afternoon and had unstable vital signs when he was brought here by the ambulance. He lost a lot of blood and underwent hypovolemic shock despite the fluids given before we could bring him up to the Radio Department.” Jungwoo added, “We would secure need 2 more alliquot bags of Type A+ for surgery before we can clear him.”

Yuta nodded and replied, “Sicheng is Type O but I don’t think he’s in a condition to donate right now.” He looked back at the ER resident who was now being cradled by the man from before. Jungwoo looked to the direction of Sicheng.

“Don’t worry. It’s just Taeil. He’s my boyfriend and Shotaro’s nanny.” Jungwoo smiled knowingly. “Well, if Sicheng can’t donate, that leaves us no choice but get blood from his other father, which is _you_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> VA - vehicular accident  
> ROD - resident on duty  
> GS - general surgery  
> BKA - below the knee amputation  
> OPD - out-patient department  
> Double line - 2 lines of 1L PNSS used in trauma patients with severe bleeding
> 
> Hospital Hierarchy:  
> Med student < Intern < Resident < Chief Resident < Fellow < Consultant < Department Head < Medical Director
> 
> Nurse I < Nurse II < Chief Nurse


End file.
